Pestilence: Rise Of The Pure Undead

The light of the rising sun shone light on the floating dust and dirtiness of the single window of an office.

The planks and beams used to build this room had gone through many changes since they had been set in place, heat, cold, humidity, and of course, the coming and going on the two owners of the two desks placed opposite to one another.

Nicely crafted out of cheap, but sturdy wood, a chair creaked as a man with a nose reddened by the regular consumption of alcohol in his younger years, he leaned back and put his feet on his desk.

Today was another day of waiting at the local guild of Throdqdmond, most prosperous city of the surroundings and one of the least wealthy of the kingdom of Tamaris, despite being part of the, if not the richest country of the continent, the city and its surroundings had once had access to lots of natural resources.

It had all run dry, leaving ghost towns, empty villages and cities such as this.

Those sort of concerns weren’t on Frank’s mind however, he was trying to take a nap.

Failing miserably at slacking on the job, he reached for a book on his desk, without changing his position that he deemed perfectly comfortable.

Straining his body and feeling like he was elongating his arm, he touched the cover of the book with his fingers and managed to drag the book closer and closer until he was able to grasp it.

Forgotten Heroes, written by Bethome Meleme, a recent book that he had gotten his hands on thanks to some random passing scholars forgetting it, truly a boon that he, who had bothered to learn how to write way back to impress a cute girl, would come upon it.

No other guild workers could claim to be nearly as educated as he was, though many could safely describe themselves as more competent.

He opened the book at where he had left off, having only read the very first chapter, or hero in the case of this book, since Bethome Meleme was pretty much listing a bunch of guys from way in the past and going on about what was known about them.

The floorboards creaked as someone made their way toward the room with hurried footsteps.

"Frank! You won’t believe this- Oh what are you reading?" a tall and lanky man burst into the room, easily distracted by the sight of the tool of learning.

"Bethome Meleme’s latest book" Frank casually responded, showing the cover to his colleague and friend.

"Ah, the sham of a historian?" whilst Frank may be the technically most educated for he had received the most lectures, Louis was definitely more knowledgeable than he could ever hope to be, simply on account that the lanky man didn’t stay seated in his chair all day.

"Sham?! She is the most recognisable name of the field, everyone holds their breath when she publishes something, I heard"

"Isn’t Meleme a man? Anyways, didn’t you notice anything while reading through it? I see that you left a bookmark, so you must have read the first chapter, he is totally giving his own opinion!" Frank titled his head at Louis’s words.

"Yeah, sure, but what’s the problem about this?" he asked cluelessly.

"Historians aren’t supposed to be biased Frank, anytime Bethome Meleme speaks about the undead, he manages to flip off and go on tangents, in a written format no less" the lanky guild worker shook his head, apparently, he had also read the book.

"I mean, everyone should agree that the undead are bad, right? It’s not that bad of a problem" he removed his feet from his desk and sat down properly.

"Certainly, but he totally idolises that Thanatok Ynigós guy, who knows what he didn’t say about him so as to not tarnish his pretty quote"

Both of the men looked at each other for a few moments, both nodding their heads in agreement.

"Bethome Meleme is totally a woman though, I learned to write to impress a girl with her exact name when I was fifteen" Frank spoke with utter calmness before looking down on the book in his hands.

"Huh?"

"The next chapter seems to be about an elven hero"

"Yes it is- What did you say just before?" Frank ignored the question with ease and just began reading the book aloud.

_____________

Maiele Liameilos, The Elven Light, a heroine of great standing whose death was never recorded, leading me to believe that she might still be walking amongst us.

Still, that is of little importance, much like Thanatok Ynigós, she was a dire asset in shielding life from the vile hands of undeath.

Her light was a direct counter to the undead king’s darkness and capable of burning vampires to a crisp, by all means, she single-handedly dismantled the ranks of the dead by sealing their ruler in his own throne room.

With the king out of commission and the vampires unable to do anything, the endless advance of decay was halted and pushed back, to such an extent that to this day, many aren’t even aware that we were once at war with an army of the dead counting numbers beyond our imagination.

In fact, allow to me emit a theory that will certainly gather the ire of many of my fellows who would rather believe in the benevolence of the all-mighties above:

The gift of comprehension and understanding was a reward for the cooperation of all life against death.

In any case, Maiele Liameilos is a great figure, which I find troubling even her own kind, known to live for centuries and sometimes even longer, have also managed to forget about her incredible deeds.

_____________

"Well, she isn’t so dead set on the undead part this time, didn’t even insult their king" Frank remarked as Louis just stared at him.

"What?"

"Nothing, anyways, I came here to tell you about the discovery of a dungeon nearby, Eppie and her party are the ones that found it, they also reported the presence of a strange monster that hides in darkness, seems fairly cunning and can also take a crossbow bolt at close range without any problem" Louis decided that he would get the answers out of Frank at another time and simply proceeded with his job.

"Heh, not getting harmed by a bolt from Lynn isn’t anything too impressive, both her weapon and ammunitions are junk, it doesn’t even fire straight" the red-nosed guild worker dismissed the supposedly impressive defences of the unknown monster using facts and logic.

"We send Zola and Saul to check things out?" Frank nodded his head at this, the two adventurers mentioned were the best around, not only in terms of capabilities, but were also the most trustworthy to work with.

Because the two were brothers.

And Louis was with their sister.

So they had no choice but to do their job reliably, or else they would get scolded by big sis.